Photo by Stan GoldsteinBruce Springsteen played until almost 2 a.m. at MetLife Stadium on Saturday night

How nice it is to have a birthday party with 60,000 of your closest friends.

That was the case for Bruce Springsteen on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium as fans serenaded the birthday boy, celebrating No. 63, after midnight and then later on in the evening, well actually morning. The show ended at 1:55 a.m.

And since I didn't get home til after 4 a.m., this is a quick report from a very good show.

Things didn't get under way until 10:27 p.m. because of the heavy rain that moved through the area.

Bruce and the E Street Band took the stage to Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" to start a three-hour-and-28-minute, 33-song show, that was quite different from the first two nights at MetLife Stadium

Photo by Stan GoldsteinBruce Springsteen's mother Adele and sister Ginny join in on "Twist and Shout." Patti Scialfa's brother, Michael, who was also celebrating his birthday, is at the far left.

8. We Take Care of Our Own
9. Wrecking Ball
10. Death to My Hometown
11. My City of Ruins
12. It's Hard To Be A Saint in the City
(Bruce said this was the first song he played for Columbia Records when he auditioned and that he took the bus up from Asbury Park to New York City.)

13. Jole Blon (With Gary US Bonds)
14. This Little Girl (With Gary US Bonds)
(Bonds was back for a second night, playing the same two songs as Friday.)

Song ended after midnight and the crowd, on their own, started singing "Happy Birthday." Bruce said "Let me hear you!"

Photo by Stan GoldsteinGary US Bonds joins Maureen and Steve Van Zandt on "Twist and Shout."

17. In the Midnight Hour (tour premiere)
(The last time this was played at an E Street Band show was at the legendary Dec. 31, 1980 show at the Nassau Coliseum.)

18. Into The Fire (tour premiere)
(This was dedicated to New York City Fireman Rich Nappi and his wife Mary Ann. . Nappi, a huge Springsteen fan and a friend of mine, was killed while fightiing a fire in Brooklyn in April. Friends of Rich had a huge tailgate celebrating his life before the show.)

19. Because The Night
20. She's The One
21. Working on the Highway
22. Shackled and Drawn
23. Waiting on a Sunny Day

24. Meeting Across the River (tour premiere)
(Very happy to see this played. My favorite Bruce song. Curt Ramm's trumpet was beautiful.)

25. Jungleland
(Last night we had the one-two punch of "Incident on 57th Street" into "Rosalita." Tonight we got this daily double.)

ENCORES

26. Thunder Road
27. Rocky Ground
28. Born To Run
29. Glory Days
(Steven came out to the center extension with Bruce and they had a lot of fun.)

30. Seven Nights to Rock
(Good to hear this one. I hadn't heard it in a long time. It was played a lot in Europe this summer, but was a first for the U.S. on this tour.)

33. Twist and Shout
(Prior to the song, Bruce's mom Adele, his oldest sister Ginny, Patti Scialfa's mother and brother, plus Maureen Van Zandt came out with a huge birthday cake. This time Steven led the fans in singing "Happy Birthday." Bruce blew out the candles and then started cutting up the cake. The first piece went to his "first fan" Obie who was in the front row. Both Bruce and Steven introduced Obie. "Obit we love you. Obie was following us when we were 16," Bruce said.)

Several other fans in the front of the pit got pieces of cake personally delivered by Bruce. He would have brought out even more, except he ran out of plates.

Bruce wanted to make sure his Mom had earplugs before playing the song. "It's going to be loud as hell. Do we have any earplugs? Can a man deafen his own mother on his birthday? I don't know," Bruce said.
Everyone stayed on stage to sing the finale. Ending was a big party!

Show over at 1:55 a.m.That may be the latest end ever for a Bruce show. Something I'll have to check. Update: Via Twitter: Frode Randen ‏@NewJerseyMusic
@Stan_Goldstein The concert @ Rock in Rio Festival, Lissabon 2012-06-03 ended 02.26 So this might have been the second latest

NEXT SHOW: Almost a month-long break until an Oct. 19 date at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

NOTE: Star-Ledger music editor Jay Lustig, Star-Ledger pop-rock critic Tris McCall and I (if I can make it into work after three Bruce shows in four days) are doing a Google+ Hangout (a live video chat) about the shows at NJ.com/entertainment at 5:30 p.m. Monday. Jay and Tris also saw all three shows.